Exclusive: Guillermo del Toro’s Original Idea for Pacific Rim 2

Charlie Day says the plan may have changed, but Guillermo del Toro told him who one of the villains was going to be in Pacific Rim 2.

A successful opening in China makes Pacific Rim a more international hit than it was domestically. The linked report says Warner Brothers is now thinking about a sequel. Good timing for me, as Charlie Day was with the Television Critics Association for the new season of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” today and I had a one on one interview with him.

Day shared the sequel talk that he heard from Guillermo del Toro on the set of Pacific Rim, which was a shocking turn for his scientist character Newt. “I remember when I first met with him that he liked the idea of Newt becoming a bit of a villain in the second film,” Day said. “But, I think over the course of making the film, and the way the character resonated with the audience, I don’t think he would want to turn him into a villain now, but I really have no idea.”

To put this in perspective, Day said del Toro shared a lot of ideas that changed through the creative process. “Guillermo is one of these guys that his mind is so active that he might have an idea about something and then it’s a completely different idea five minutes later.”

In CraveOnline’s interview with Day this summer Day shared his hopes that Newt would get a jaeger to pilot in the sequel. He still wants one, only now he elaborates on ideas to copilot one in a drift with fellow scientist Gottlieb (Burn Gorman).

“I’m hopeful that we get to drive a big punching robot,” Day said. “I think traditionally in those comics, sometimes the science guys put together a cheap, dorky version of one of the robots so maybe we’ll get to do something like that.

Day is managing expectations though. The Chinese box office is good news, but nothing is guaranteed. “I also don’t know if it would ever get made. I think because there’s no one in a cape it might hurt our chances of making another one. We’ll see. Look, I would love to do it. Hopefully if it keeps performing this well overseas we’ll get to find out.”

We’ll be back with more Pacific Rim 2 news after we meet with Hannibal Chau.